Not for the experienced enterprise web techie
My viewpoint: I am a user experience specialist and UI designer with a development background. I bought this book in hopes that it would address some of the complicated data issues I run into on a daily basis.
The bad:
Despite saying how cheap it is to print in color now, most of the sample images were 1 or more pages away from where it was referenced. I could have gone without the color if it meant I got the referenced image under the text referencing it. (Don't make me think while I'm reading books either, please.)
Commerce sites were deemed web applications. In some cases, I would agree. But for the samples given, I would generally disagree.
A best practice would be described, then in the next best practice's sample image, that best practice would be broken. Most best practices mentioned in this book can easily be found at Nielsen or Spool's websites. There was very little new to learn here. Also, some best practices given in this book are directly opposed to those given by Nielsen or Spool, without any supporting documentation or testing results. I'd be more apt to give those consideration if they were supported.
Almost the entire second half of the book was spent on displaying data (graphs, maps and more) and very little spent on forms for capturing data. Data capture was only lightly touched and did not even begin to touch complicated data capture.
If you are beginner, DO NOT PAY ATTENTION to the data base design "tips" given in this book. It was obvious the authors have never heard of data views and you will screw your database design royally if you follow their advice. Do the homework you might need on real database design.
The good:
If you work with a small to medium-sized website and you are new to, this book could be helpful to you. It does cover most of what would be considered best practice usability guidelines and I did glean a new one or two new things from the book.
If you work with Dashboards, you might also find one or new twists in the book. But most of the data display will be beyond what anyone will need for a smaller data-related sites.
Excellent
It is very hard to find books that go beyond ABC. This is one of a few.
Complete waste of money for me
If you are looking something technological like I was or even theories, this isn't the book. And usually I think the pictures and examples are a good thing, but in this book it seemed that they were there to fill space. Can't recommend. But then again, it might be just because I misunderstood what the book was about and expected something more concrete.
Very Disappointed - Design or Development?
I bought this book because Krug's book (Don't Make Me Think) recommended it and because my main concern was web-based business applications not public web sites.
I was extremely disappointed by Web Application Design Handbook:
1) It doesn't say much more than what any Windows developer has known
for the past 10 years
2) It is full of discussions about software DEVELOPMENT but it is
supposed to be a DESIGN book
3) It is supposed to be a book about WEB design but half of it is
about reports, graphs, diagrams, and maps
The first half of the book concentrates on what was advertised: design/usability of web-based applications. But it doesn't offer many new ideas. Most of the recommendations are well-known to Windows developers. It doesn't give enough attention to what's different about web-based applications.
The amount of useful, thought-provoking information in this book that could help a Windows developer create better web-based applications is no more than 50 pages. Not very good for a book of 600 pages.
The book does not inspire confidence that the recommendations are based on real usability testing. There's a lot of conventional wisdom followed by a lot of suggestions to figure it out yourself with your own usability tests.
The book has a maddening tendency to slip into development issues. Why on earth are there JavaScript code examples in a design book???!!! Why are there discussions about the impact of client vs server-side code on network bandwidth? Not only are these discussions distracting, they are also full of half-truths, oversimplifications, obsolete information, and some outright mistakes.
Almost 2/3 of the book is about topics that are beyond the scope of web application design (ok they're at least straining the limits): reports, graphs, diagrams, maps. That material would be handled better in a separate book, dedicated to those topics. As it is, most of the book is irrelevant to my needs.
If you are concerned with usability/GUI design of web sites or web applications forget this book and get Krug's Don't Make Me Think instead.
Nice and Solid GUI Design Handbook
This book helped me a lot as in my day-to day work. I used it as powerful guide for the construction of the "nice and pleasant" presentation layer for our applications. Our customers were happy - and it is the best feedback somebody can give.
I would definitely recommend this book to the wide range of Software Designers, Developers and Managers. Profession GUI always makes a difference!
(9 reviews)
